Key Objectives
– Engaging tech entrepreneurs in opportunities within the Health, Wellbeing and Fitness markets.
– To support 2/3 HealthTech startups with full force of TLA (see Competition below) leveraging the TLA value-add of Profile, Platform & Mentoring.
– Leverage examples to craft a ‘voice’ for TLA with Government/NHS re importance of HealthTech in London.
Planned activity for 2016
The third edition of the TLA Health Tech Competition is expected to be extremely popular once again, following on from last year’s success. The Health Tech market is continually growing and is becoming more structured, as innovators develop new offerings, be it connected devices, monitoring services, coaching services or medical support. The competition will follow the market trend and split the entries between different categories.
Winners will benefit from the TLA HealthTech group in a number of ways – additional profile and prominence, the opportunity to highlight their business at selected TLA events – and, last but not least, winners will have access to some of the best mentors in the sector to help their future success.
In partnership with MedCity, TLA Health Tech will organise its first joint event in 2016, bringing together innovators, private companies and the NHS to help highlight the best of innovative products & services here in the UK and internationally.
TLA Health Tech runs occasional tech talks, has a registry of innovative digital products and services and continually welcomes new advocates with specialist interest to join the group. The group continues to be a focal point for activities, events and speakers in the HealthTech space, as well as providing mentoring and networking opportunities for start-ups in the sector.
Highlights of 2015
Building on the success of the inaugural competition, the second edition of the TLA Health Tech Competition was a huge success thanks to the efforts of the group, the support and sponsorship of Simmons-Simmons and Melinda Nicci who led the judging sessions once again. An exciting new group of innovators entered the competition, with shortlisted companies going through to a second judging round before the winner emerged. The winner of the 2015 competition was Dr Ganesh Rao from Right Clinic (www.rightclinic.com). Other shortlisted companies included Speakset, Retvas and Yomp – further information on these companies is included in a new initiative started this year :
Entrepreneur Case Studies focusing on our top companies.
As well as helping Health Tech startups with mentoring and networking opportunities, TLA Health Tech was involved in a series of events with other organisations in the sector including principally MedCity, Tech UK, Tech Talkfest and Leading Edge Only.
Highlights of 2014
Alongside our Competition (led by Melinda Nicci), work began on a Start-Up Registry (led by Daniel Glazer) and a series of Health Tech Talks (Ghilaine Chan).
2014 HealthTech Competition – at the TLA autumn summit, Michael Seres, founder of 11Health was announced as the winner. 11Health produces the Ostomi-i Alert sensor, a discrete innovative Bluetooth connected device/app that alerts patients to how full their ostomy/stoma bags are so that they can decide if and when to empty them. More information on the Ostomi-i Alert sensor can be found here: http://www.11health.com/ostom-i/
Number of Advocates in Group
120
Head of Group
Nelson Skip Riddle (nsriddle@riddleinternational.com)
Alban Remy (alban.remy@gmail.com)
Case Studies
In a few words, what does your product/service do ?
11Health is a connected medical device company. It has developed sensor technology that clips on to the outside of most medical bags such as stoma bags and enables patients to be alerted when their bags fill and clinicians to receive real time data of the output volume and times. This enables them to take action ahead of a major trauma occurring.
Where did the idea come from?
In Oct 2011 I became the 11th patient in the UK to undergo an intestinal transplant in Oxford. I had a stoma as part of transplant and looked for some technology to help me manage my condition. There wasn’t any so I bought some kit on ebay and hacked together a proto type sensor. That sensor then became 11Health.
Who are you trying to target? And how are you reaching them?
Our technology is very much patient led innovation we understand the end user as I am one. Ultimately this is all about improving the quality of lives of patients who have to cope with bags. In the UK for example around 130,000 patients have a stoma with around 12,000 new surgeries a year. All our research and marketing is patient focused and we use social media and on line tools to engage with the patients. We also spend a lot of time with patient groups learning what is important to the patient.
However you can’t build a product unless you engage all the constituent parties. For me that means working with clinicians. My own transplant team were the starting point. What data did they really need, what data was relevant and in what form did they want to receive it. We spend time at conferences where nurses and clinicians give us feedback on what they need and then we engage surgeons, clinicians and nutritionists as part of our advisory board to give us on going clinical support.
What is your greatest accomplishment to date?
My greatest accomplishment has been surviving transplant and then cancer twice. Intestinal transplant survival rates are 50/50. From a work perspective I am most proud of being able to build something that helps patients like me. The opportunity to improve the quality of life of a patient is the ultimate reward.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Gosh, there have been many and there continue to be challenges every day. I think securing FDA approval was a huge challenge. We had absolutely no idea how to go about getting approval but figured it out and nine months later were successful. Right now though it is engaging with the NHS.
Looking back, what, if anything, would you have done differently?
The one thing I would have done was to have retained a much tighter grip on our initial outsourced R&D development. Because I did not have an engineering background I was a little worried to ask questions. Now I realise no question is stupid and I should have asked more. The more knowledge you can glean the more in control you will be of every stage.
In what way (if any) did the TLA HealthTech group help you and your business?
TLA has been amazing. Melinda, Kay and Richard have been superstars. They embraced the fact that I was someone with no connections in healthcare. I was just a patient who built a bit of kit and then helped me every step of the way. They became a massive support for me. Winning the TLA Health Tech award in 2014 was without doubt a game changer. It introduced me to so many different people. To mentors, to funders and generally to people who were all generous with their time and support. TLA is a must for any budding entrepreneur.
What is the next exciting step for your project?
We are focused at the moment on the US market so the next step will be to open a small office on the west coast which we hope to do once we secure our next round of funding. At the same time we are close to getting on the NHS Drug tariff and once we do that I am really excited to try and embed our device within the health system that saved my life and continues to look after me every single day.
In a few words, what does your product/service do?
We connect GPs and nurses to their older patients in their homes using video calling on TVs. Our aim is to help older people stay more independent and out of hospital.
Where did the idea come from?
3 years ago, tech sucked for older people; the demographic that could benefit most from it! We wanted to change that and so we spent months speaking to older people and learning about the biggest challenges they face and how we could solve them. Older people have told us what we should do and how it should work.
Who are you trying to target? And how are you reaching them?
We work with healthcare providers either within the NHS or privately too. We either directly contact them, are referred by existing clients or are introduced to them through our network.
What is your greatest accomplishment to date?
Having patients that are genuinely over the moon with the independence SpeakSet has given them whilst showing providers a 1200% return on their investment.
What has been your biggest challenge?
No surprises here but working with slow, bureaucratic public sector services.
Looking back, what, if anything, would you have done differently?
Being even more hands on to get learning faster. Generally we could have worried about scalability much later. The classic Paul Graham essay ‘Do things that don’t scale’ comes to mind.
In what way (if any) did the TLA HealthTech group help you and your business?
Meeting a bunch of new people in marketing and healthcare.
What is the next exciting step for your project?
We’ve rolled out with a number of providers and are getting awesome results. We have the perfect foundation to kick it up a notch now!
In a few words, what does your product/service do ?
RightClinic.com is a trusted marketplace allowing visitors to find and book the best laser eye surgery and cosmetic treatments throughout the UK. Run by doctors and with independent reviews and clear pricing, RightClinic helps consumers to make the right choice.
Where did the idea come from?
Working as a doctor in the NHS I was frustrated by the fact that you could compare car insurance online but there was nothing on the web to help you compare clinics for medical treatment, so i quit my job to setup RightClinic.
Who are you trying to target? And how are you reaching them?
We’re targeting consumers interested in finding the best clinics online for treatments like laser eye surgery and cosmetic surgery.
We are reaching them through Google and Facebook when they are in the research phase and deciding what treatment to have and where to have it.
What is your greatest accomplishment to date?
Getting the major high street chains to come on board which took almost a year but validated the platform.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Building trust in a new service in a sector where trust and transparency is critical to success.
Looking back, what, if anything, would you have done differently?
I would have raised money sooner as we struggled with a small team for too long in the beginning while competitors were getting a stronger foothold in the market.
In what way (if any) did the TLA HealthTech group help you and your business?
Winning the TLA Healthtech competition gave us great exposure and really helped to establish our brand within the healthtech sector in London.
What is the next exciting step for your project?
We’re expanding into other verticals like physiotherapy and fertility so people can find and book the best clinics for these treatments too!
In a few words, what does your product/service do ?
Retvas is a patented ce marked software that analyses images of the retina, the back of your eye, to automatically find pathological changes in the eye. It can be used to give a mark of cardiovascular wellness, a screening aid for diabetic retinopathy and for retinopathy of prematurity (for which the software was initially developed).
Where did the idea come from?
Clare Wilson is the company founder. She is a consultant ophthalmologist at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. During her ophthalmic training (clinician academic) she completed a PHD in computer analysis of digital retinal images.
Who are you trying to target? And how are you reaching them?
22.2 million people visit their optometrists each year. More than 90% optometrists have retinal cameras and routinely take a digital retinal image of most patients. Public Health England are keen on improving preventive medicine (we are partnering with Phast – public health action support team). Retvas provides an early indicator of cardiovascular demise – Retvas is especially appropriate for the 40-60 year old male cohort who do not seek health care elsewhere, but are becoming presbyopic and so visit their optometrists for reading glasses. The big picture for Retvas wellness is to provide simple population screening for early cardiovascular disease detection and prevention.
What is your greatest accomplishment to date?
Securing seed funding to start marketing the business.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Raising the funds to kick start the business.
Looking back, what, if anything, would you have done differently?
It would have probably been quicker to do without patenting, although investments may have been tricky to get.
In what way (if any) did the TLA HealthTech group help you and your business?
TLA is great for networking and meeting the right people to help advance business side of things.
What is the next exciting step for your project?
Marketing wellness at home to get funds for charitable distribution of ROP screening tool to developing countries where there is an epidemic of lifelong blindness in premature babies.